Melek Özkan

Alkaline peroxide pretreatment of rapeseed straw for enhancing bioethanol production by Same Vessel Saccharification and Co-Fermentation

Alkaline peroxide pretreatment of rapeseed straw was evaluated for conversion of cellulose and hemicellulose to fermentable sugars. After pretreatment, a liquid phase called pretreatment liquid and a solid phase were separated by filtration. The neutralized pretreatment liquids were used in a co-fermentation process, with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis. The solid fraction was used for simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation process in the same vessel. The effects of various operating variables were investigated. Pretreatment with 5% (v/v) H(2)O(2) at 50 °C for 1h was found to be the optimal pretreatment combination with respect to overall ethanol production. At this condition, 5.73 g ethanol was obtained from pretreatment liquid and 14.07 g ethanol was produced by co-fermentation of solid fraction with P. stipitis. Optimum delignification was observed when 0.5 M MgSO(4) was included in the pretreatment mixture, and it resulted in 0.92% increase in ethanol production efficiency.

Ethanol production from wheat straw by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Scheffersomyces stipitis co-culture in batch and continuous system.

In this research, Scheffersomyces stipitis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in immobilized and suspended state were used to convert pentose and hexose sugars to ethanol. In batch and continuous systems, S. stipitis and S. cerevisiae co-culture performance was better than S. cerevisiae. Continuous ethanol production was performed in packed bed immobilized cell reactor (ICR). In ICR, S. stipitis cells were found to be more sensitive to oxygen concentration and other possible mass transfer limitations as compared to S. cerevisiae. Use of co-immobilized S. stipitis and S. cerevisiae resulted in maximum xylose consumption (73.92%) and 41.68 g/L day ethanol was produced at HRT (hydraulic retention time) of 6h with wheat straw hydrolysate. At HRT of 0.75 h, the highest amount of ethanol with the values of 356.21 and 235.43 g/L day was produced when synthetic medium and wheat straw hydrolysate were used as feeding medium in ICR, respectively.

Evaluating pretreatment techniques for converting hazelnut husks to bioethanol

This study examined the suitability of husk waste for bioethanol production and compared pretreatment techniques with regard to their efficiencies. Results showed that 4% NaBH4 (90 min) delignified the highest amount of lignin (49.1%) from the structure. The highest xylan solubility (77.9%) was observed when samples were treated with 4% NaOH for 90 min. Pretreatment with NaOH and NaBH4, compared to H2O2 and H2SO4, resulted in selective delignification. The highest glucan to glucose conversion (74.4%) and the highest ethanol yield (52.6 g/kg husks) were observed for samples treated with 2% NaOH for 90 min.

Cellulose degradation and glucose accumulation byClostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405 under different cultural conditions

Effect of various cultural parameters on cellulose degradation, glucose accumulation and ethanol production byClostridium thermocellum ATCC 27405 were investigated. Optimum pH values for glucose accumulation and ethanol production were determined as 7 and 10, respectively. Highest amount of ethanol (0.92 g/l) was obtained from the culture which contains 10 g urea/l with 34.5% decrease in glucose accumulation. Addition of 100 mM phosphate to the medium increased ethanol production while cellulose degradation and sugar accumulation decreased by 34 and 99%, respectively. Among minerals tested, Mg+2 was found to be the most important element which affects cellulose degradation. When the medium contained no Mg+2, residual cellulose concentration was 4.3 g cellulose/l. When the cultural parameters were optimised, glucose accumulation started at early days of fermentation and glucose concentration was 60% higher than that of the control at the 10th day of fermentation.

Thermostable amperometric lactate biosensor with Clostridium thermocellum l-LDH for the measurement of blood lactate

The gene for Clostridium thermocellum L-lactate dehydrogenase enzyme was cloned into pGEX-4T-2 purification vector to supply a source for a thermostable enzyme in order to produce a stable lactate biosensor working at relatively high temperatures. The purified thermostable enzyme (t-LDH) was then immobilized on a gold electrode via polymerization of polygluteraldehyde and pyrrol resulting in a conductive co-polymer. t-LDH working electrode (t-LDHE) was used for determination of lactate in CHES buffer. Amperometric response of the produced electrodes was measured as a function of lactate concentration, at a fixed bias voltage of 200 mV in a three-electrode system. The linear range and sensitivity of the biosensor was investigated at various temperatures in the range of 25-60 degrees C. The sensitivity t-LDHE increased with increasing the temperature and reached its highest value at 60 degrees C. The calculated value was nearly 70 times higher as compared to the sensitivity value of the same electrode tested at 25 degrees C. The sensing parameters of t-LDHE were compared with the electrodes produced by commercially available rabbit muscle LDH (m-LDH). The sensitivity of t-LDHE was nearly 8 times higher than that of m-LDHE. t-LDHE was found to retain its activity for a week incubation at refrigerator (+5 degrees C), while m-LDHE lost its activity in this period. t-LDHE was also tested in the presence of human blood serum. The results showed that the current increased with increasing concentrations of lactate in the human blood serum and the biosensor is more sensitive to serum lactate as well as the commercial lactate dissolved in serum as compared to the commercial lactate dissolved in CHES buffer.

Determination of mercury and nickel by amperometric biosensor prepared with thermostable lactate dehydrogenase

Abstract Response of biosensor prepared with the thermostable bacterial LDH enzyme was analyzed in the presence of mercury and nickel. For electrode preparation, the enzyme was purified and immobilized on a gold sheet coated by PGA-pyrrole polymeric material. The working electrode was tested at increasing concentration of lactate in the presence of two different concentrations of mercury and nickel. Current response of biosensor decreased from 0.32 μA to 0.09 μA and 4.13 μA to 2.63 μA when 25×10 −7 mmol/L mercury and 17×10 −5 mmol/L nickel were included in the working solution, respectively. Sensitivity of the electrode decreased from 0.010 2 μA/(mmol·L −1 ) to 0.0043 μA/(mmol·L −1 ) in the presence of 25×10 −7 mmol/L mercury. On the other hand, the presence of nickel did not result in a decrease in electrode sensitivity. The results pointed out that the prepared biosensor is useful to detect mercury in a sample containing both mercury and nickel together.

Application of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus for reducing fouling of membranes used for wastewater treatment

Abstract Background: Membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems used for wastewater treatment (WWT) processes are regarded as clean technologies. Degradation capacity of the predator bacterium, Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, was used as a cleaning strategy for reducing membrane fouling. Method: Wastewater with different sludge age and hydraulic retention time were filtered through Poly(ether)sulphone (PES) membranes using dead end reactor. Change in filtration performance after cleaning of membrane surface by B. bacteriovorus was measured by comparison of flux values. Bacterial community of the sludge was determined by 16SrRNA sequence analysis. Community profile of membrane surface was analyzed by fluorescent in situ hybridization technique. Results: After cleaning of MP005 and UP150 membranes with predator bacteria, 4.8 L/m2·h and 2.04 L/m2·h increase in stable flux at steady state condition was obtained as compared to the control, respectively. Aeromonas, Proteus, and Alcaligenes species were found to be dominant members of the sludge. Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus lysed pure cultures of the isolated sludge bacteria successfully. FISH analysis of the membrane surface showed that Alfa-proteobacteria are the most numerous bacteria among the biofilm community on the membrane surface. Conclusion: Results suggested that cleaning of MBR membranes with B. bacteriovorus has a potential to be used as a biological cleaning method.